We've had a long time to make peace with the fact that "The Dark Knight Rises" will be the final time Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale team together to bring Batman to the big-screen. But does that mean Bale's days in Gotham City are officially coming to an end? Not necessarily, it turns out.

Empire recently caught up with the Oscar winning actor and asked if he'd ever consider donning the cape and cowl in a post-"Rises" world. Bale's answer was surprisingly encouraging.

"My understanding is that this is the last one. I think it's appropriate, I think it's going out at the right time," he said. "But...if Chris came to me with a script and said, 'You know what? There is another story' then I would love the challenge of making a fourth one work."

So, Bale's up for another Batman movie… assuming Nolan is as well, that is, and that's not a safe assumption to make. The filmmaker also spoke out on his views of returning to Batman once "Rises" hits theaters, and it appears that his stance on the topic remains unchanged.

"What drew me to Batman in the first place was Bruce Wayne's story, and that he's a real character whose story begins in childhood," Nolan said. "He's not a fully formed character like James Bond, so what we're doing is following the journey of this guy from a child who goes through this horrible experience of becoming this extraordinary character. That, for me, became a three-part story. And obviously the third part becomes the ending of the guy's story."

Tell us what you think of the end of Nolan and Bale's Batman reign in the comments section or hit us up on Twitter!